The invention relates to motor vehicles in general, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for operating certain constituents of power trains in motor vehicles. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for automatically adjusting, controlling, regulating and/or otherwise operating the torque transmitting system and/or the transmission system in the power train of a passenger car, a van, a truck or another motor vehicle.
The power train of a motor vehicle normally comprises a driving arrangement (such as a combustion engine or a motor), a manual or automated or automatic transmission which receives torque from the driving arrangement and which can transmit torque to the front and/or rear wheels of the vehicle, and one or more clutches or other types of torque transmitting systems. For example, a friction clutch can be installed in the power train between the rotary output element (such as a crankshaft or a camshaft) of an internal combustion engine and the input element of the transmission, and such clutch is adjustable to transmit a desired torque.
It is already known to provide a motor vehicle with a control unit which can receive signals from one or more sensors serving to monitor one or more parameters of the vehicle (such as the RPM of the output member of the engine, the input RPM of the transmission, the condition (extent of engagement or disengagement) of the clutch, and/or others). The control unit evaluates and/or otherwise processes such signals and/or memorized information and automatically adjusts the clutch when an adjustment is deemed necessary.